The unconventional new musical about a group of high schoolers who meet their end in a roller coaster tragedy opened Off-Broadway November 30.

Emily Rohm and the cast
Joan Marcus

The MCC Theater production of the new Off-Broadway musical Ride the Cyclone opened November 30at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Billed as “part tragedy, part comedy,” it tells the story of a high school choir that boards a faulty roller coaster with tragic results.

The original musical by Canadian writers Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell arrives in New York following a U.S. premiere last fall at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where it earned strong reviews from The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times. Broadway producer Kevin McCollum is attached to the production.

Here’s how it’s described: “The Saint Cassian High School Chamber Choir will board the Cyclone roller coaster at 8:17 PM. At 8:19 the front axle will break, sending them to their tragic demise. A mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell the story of a life interrupted - with the promise of a prize like no other. Ride the Cyclone is a wildly original new musical - part comedy, part tragedy, and wholly unexpected.”